A display board directs you to an available EV charging bay, one of up to 10 150kW ultra-rapid chargers occupying the main forecourt and protected from the elements by a pair of opposing, stylish-looking canopies fitted with solar panels. Nearby, a Little Waitrose convenience store, a Costa, free wi-fi, a parcel collection point and, holy of holies, clean lavatories. All this and not a petrol or a diesel pump in sight.
Welcome to the forecourt of the future, as conceived by Shell. No marketer’s pipe dream, the company’s first all-EV charging station opens for business early next year in Fulham, London.
“We call it Project Evelyn – an energy hub where you can recharge yourself and recharge your car,” says Bernie Williamson, general retail manager at Shell UK. “Exactly when we’ll start rolling out more sites on the same lines is hard to say but Shell supports the ban on internal-combustion-engined vehicles and aims to be the leading rapid charger on the go.”
Shell unveiled its first 50kW EV rapid-charging post, capable of recharging a battery from zero to 80% in 30 minutes, at its Holloway Road service station in north London in October 2017. Nine more followed in quick succession. By 2021, it plans to have a combination of 200 rapid (50kW) and ultra-rapid (150kW) chargers on forecourts located on major routes across the UK. Going forward, all of its new or upgraded chargers will be ultra-rapid. These rapid and ultra-rapid chargers are in addition to the large network of fast chargers available on local roads that are managed by Shell’s NewMotion charging division.
Meanwhile, by the end of 2020, the company plans to have three 350kW chargers in operation, eclipsing Tesla’s 250kW V3 Superchargers. As they do now, all of Shell’s chargers will dispense renewable electricity.
So that’s the car’s battery taken care of, but while you’re waiting, you can recharge yourself with a ‘Jamie Oliver deli by Shell’ sarnie. The upmarket snack range will feature in Shell’s Fulham EV-only service station, highlighting that the forecourt of tomorrow is expected to be more than simply a recharging destination.
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It's the simple things in
It's the simple things in life that make the difference.
why oh why do energy companies treat EV drivers like second class citizens and not put a canopy over the charger. I don't like getting wet when charging and I will certainly choose a covered charger over an uncovered charger every time.
Keep Your Ice
Car owners should keep their ICE cars and forget about this nonsense until the nonsense is sorted out.
Tail Wagging the Dog
Shell and others should put these recharging points where they are actually needed i.e. outside people's homes and at various destinations (hotels, places of work and the like). I have absolutely no time or interest in hanging around a forecourt for an hour or so drinking coffee!
Social inactivity.
So much of what we do today involves technology, there's very little face to face in the same place, we pay just about everything online,mor swipe a Card, hardly a word said shop assistant, some don't even look at each other it's so impersonal these days, so, stopping for thirty minutes, a comfort stop maybe, then maybe have a Coffee, a confection of some sort, actually talking to someone would help pass the time,and, in the times we're living in along with COVID and Brexit and let's not forget the US Election, it would be nice to be a bit social with other fellow drivers.
Peter Cavellini wrote:
It's a lovely idea and I'm sure perfectly delightful if you're happily retired - but I'm afraid, for me and many others, time is money.
One percent.
@ Bill Lyons
Totall agree. Haning around a forecourt drinking crap coffe so hot it fuses your lips together, eating tasteless sandwiches at exorbitant prices is not my idea of a good day out.
My longer annual journeys (Bavaria appx 800 miles) is broken by two short stops and completed in a day, and the Highlands of Scotland (appx 600 miles) - completed with just one stop at Tebay are not a holiday jaunt, they are a journey to be completed as quickly and hassle free as possible. So that means no range anxiety, no queuing for a charging point, no waiting for the thing to actually charge, and not paying three times the going rate for the privilege.